,Labor vows to push tourism

In a recent visit to Albany, Opposition leader Mark McGowan said the Great Southern town would “feature prominently” in a Labor push to increase tourism in WA.

Labor has pledged $425 million over five years to support marketing and events specifically designed to increase the number of international and interstate visitors. The funding would be broken down to $45 million for marketing and $40 million a year for events and conventions.

Mr McGowan said the events would have to meet strict criteria to attract tourists.

“It can’t be an event to make the community feel good — it has to be able to attract tourists,” he said.

Mr McGowan said none of the funding would be specifically directed to the regions but he viewed regional WA as a key selling point for the State.

“You’d find very few places with a beautiful environment; vibrant regional communities in proximity to a major city,” he said.

Statistics from WA Tourism Department showed in the 2015-16 financial year, West Australians took 19.4 million day trips within the State while 10.1 million overnight visitors came to or travelled within WA.

This resulted in $4.5 billion of a total of $9.6 billion tourists dollars being spent in regional WA.

International visitors to WA increased 6.3 per cent in the same period, short of the national average growth rate of 10.3 per cent while intrastate visitor rates continue to out-perform the national average.